conworldfandomcom-20200222-history
South Slope
South Slope is a New Cambrian soap opera series created by Rose Johns-Cutbank and produced in-house by New Cambria Television for broadcast on NCT One. It is the country's most popular original drama, and widely considered one of NCT's flagship programmes. Currently in its twelfth series, South Slope airs original episodes on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings at 21:30, with a 90-minute omnibus airing at 22:00 on Sundays. Setting South Slope is set in the neighborhood of Clifton Park, a fictional suburb on Arvant's south side. Many of the scenes take place around the main street in Little Dublin. South Slope occasionally makes use of real Arvant locations. Sequences have been shot in the Arvant CBD, on the grounds of Parliament Buildings, and more recently in Old Port. Current cast The programme was originally focused on four families: the Đorhevos, the David-Lloyds, the Crittendens and the Brownes. This was similar to the British soap EastEnders, which also originally focused on a number of families and the community in which they lived. Over time, the emphasis has moved away from the four families and grown to include the wider community of Clifton Park. In the early 2000s, the Rose, D'Arcy and Bennett families were introduced and dominated storylines for the next several years. Chris and Jamie D'Arcy, along with their brood of five children and Jamie's mother Rose, were involved in many stories. The Rose family originally consisted of Donny and Christine, but later a new branch of the family arrived including Donny's mother Carol. The Bennett family was introduced in 2002 and consisted of patriarch Ron, his wife Lola and their two teenage children Jake and Meredith. The Kinney family was gradually introduced in 2006, but since the the show's focus has shifted to individual characters more than family groupings. Another change in recent years as been the reintroduction of ethnic minority characters such as Tom Hađane, Natasha Nicholson (née Udodovskaya), the Fabian family and Goran Dragović. Creator and executive producer Rose Johns-Cutbank believes the soap's success is due to the large cast and the fact that no single character or group of characters dominates. "Difficulties are inherent if you are dealing with just one family," she says. "Look at Dallas and Dynasty; both did well at the beginning, but because all the action was centred on a single family, the writers ran out of things to say." Production Each week, rehearsals for the three episodes take place on Saturday and Monday. From Tuesday to Friday, the interior scenes are recorded on two NCT sound stages. The schedule runs from 8:00 to 18:30. The exterior scenes are filmed on Thursday and Friday either on the lot within the grounds of NCT headquarters, or in various locations around Arvant. The series is planned in blocks of 12 episodes. The first stage is the development of story and plot, which is done by a small team of storyline writers. Once the stories have been fleshed out and agreed, the scene breakdown writers decide how the stories should be translated into scenes for each episodes. The episodes are then assigned to the script writers, who create the dialogue and stage directions for the actors. Running in parallel with the writing process is the production process, which includes casting, wardrobe, make-up, design and construction of sets, purchase of props, finding locations, booking facilities, developing schedules and other administrative tasks involved in managing a large production. From 1998 to 2004, all interior shots were filmed at Windowsill Studios in Portsmouth. In 2004, the show moved to an NCT studio specifically adapted to cater for this flagship drama. All exterior shots were initially recorded in Industry Hill, where residents were politely asked to stay indoors during shooting. Later, Clifton Park was moved to NCT, where set designers replicated the façades and interiors of the original houses. Social realism The show has featured a number of gritty storylines reflecting major issues in New Cambrian society, particularly from 2004 onwards. In 2001, the show tackled the subject of rape, with the rape of Emily Doyle by Evan Keenan, who later committed suicide. The show also featured a homosexual relationship in 2005, with Jack Connelly and Rhys Johnson engaging in New Cambria's first "gay kiss" on television. Abortion was protrayed in 2007, when Martie Jones decided to abort her pregnancy despite her husband's wishes, for fear the child would be born severely disabled. Drug addiction has also been portrayed a number of times. Prostitution was shown in 2006 when Jenna turned to prostitution in order to pay for drugs. Domestic abuse was highlighted within the Howard family when, in 2008, Colleen was murdered by her husband Owen following years of domestic abuse. South Slope is also notable for featuring members of New Cambria's ethnic minorities as regular characters. One of the programme's original families, the Đorhevos, were Keva people, and were central to South Slope's plotlines for its first four seasons. Fictional members of New Cambria's expatriate American, Canadian and British communities have also been incorporated into the show in seasons past. In 2009, South Slope introduced its first Bosnian character. History Popularity and viewership Awards and nominations Controversy Category:New Cambria Category:Culture